The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1887-02-10
FACTORY GIRLS.
New Their Health aud beauty Arc Ruined
by Lives OF Ton.

New Their Health aud Beauty Arc Ruined
by Lives Of Ton.
[Chtcago Inter ocean,
Several newsl apers Of New England
have been giving some spaco of late to dis
cussion Of the appearance aud character
tstics Of tho factory girls who constitute
such . large element Of the population OF
that part of the country. In the New En-
gland States nearly sixteen thousand
young girls, between the ages Of ten and
fifteen, are employed in the various manu-
featuring industries, and nearly two hun
drvd thousand unler twenty are thus en-
yAoyed. The effect OF taking such large
number Of girls away from home Me and
its softsning in huenees can Not but b felt
n the c,mmuuity. These girls work from
seven O'Clock i'll tho morning till six O'Clock
in the evening. Their work II not heavy,
but It is monotonous and worrying. Their
wages range from forty cents a day up
ward, a woman's average wages in the
factory being about 81. 50 per day. As =
rule these girls prefer to work IN the fac
tories rather than TO attend school
III gwen All opportunity to receive
an education they do not wish 70
take it Partly because their parents arc
generally anxious to secure the help OF
their wages, and partly FROM the influence
of older girls they are eager to join the
ranks OF the money -getters and VIII sacri-
Ace sduca ton, comfort and health to this
end Their moral condition may not be
all that should be desired, but it Is better
than might b expected considering the
lax influences that surround them. Gem
orally, their behavior in the factories Is
proprie,y itself, but in the evening. when
they are set free from the thraldOm OF
labor, they are apt to indulge In romPing
demonstrations aud noisy talk and laugh
ter.
The picture Of childhood repressed BY
this life of toll is very sad. One observer
says: You look in vain tor the peach
like check, the pretty smile, the proud
step; you find instead a yellow white face,
thin and expressionless, unless the well-
knit eyebrows signify that they regret tho
circumstances which compel them to throw
away the best Of their lives behind the
stone walls Of the mill II, perchance,
some little miss Of twelve, whose acquains-
ance with factory life is short, bubbles
forth with laughter, her childish msrri-
meut only makes the soberness Of her
elders more grim and pitiful. 1t Is not IN
common to see the girl who entered the
factory the year before with . straight,
pretty form. join the procession Of round
shouldered lasses after twelve months
hard work in the factory"
Concerning the effect Of factory life up
on the health Of those who engage in it in
their early youth, the Boston Herald says:
The appalling fact connected with this kind
of existence is found in the vital statistics
attending it The average life of the factory
girls is but thirty years. Some of those
who marry live to be forty or forty-five
years old-seldom more than that. The
ply steal condition that the mill has pro-
duoed In them units them for matrimony.
It is only question Of how much it has
impaired their health in deciding whether
they are to live up 10 the critical age OF
woman Or to fall by the way. The vast ma
iority Of them come far short of it-none 60
beyond. There is thus brought home to us q
realization Of the Moloch that our factory
system is in its effects upon women on
gagged in it. We realize material wealth
by it, an at fearful cost Civilization ad-
vances over the corpSes of tn ose who con-
tribute to its progress; but as they drop
out in the procession, scores of others step
in to fill their places With all the deadly
deterioration Of physical vigor that the
factory produces, it is favored among the
more intelligent women over healthy
household service and this not by those Of
American birth alone. The majority OF
the miu-girls are French or Of French ex-
traction, while the Irish are largely rep
resented in their ranks.